GM burn-out is a pretty serious issue. I've received a fair
number of "I'm leaving the hobby for awhile" feedback
responses from ezine unsubscribers over the years, and I
wonder how many were a result of burn-out? We'll never
know, I guess. In this week's article, Andrew gives us
several clues that will hopefully help GMs on the verge of
burn-out pull back before it's too late.

Next week, Andrew will fill us in on a few remedies. Have
you ever experienced RPG burn-out? Did you bounce-back? If
so, drop me a note and let me know how you did it.

Contest Winners Will Be Announced In #131
Thanks to everyone who entered the Kenzer & Co. HackMaster
module contest! I submitted the list of names for random
selection to Kenzer & Co. at the close of the contest, and
as soon as I hear back I'll email the winners and announce
them in next week's issue.

It is going to happen. You've been running your campaign for
a few months and a feeling of lethargy and frustration grows
in you. You start to feel like you're having less fun each
session, and the players pick up on this, and as a result,
your fun level sinks even further. Often, this burn-out is
"solved" by scrapping the campaign and starting another one.

This is not the way, my friend! A long term campaign is the
single most rewarding achievement a GM can enjoy. I am
talking about the kind of campaign that has players talking
about the fun they had years after the campaign ended. The
kind of campaign that has people naming their children after
your NPCs!

GMs who want long running campaigns need to be able to work
through the burn-out that so often appears, and be able to
reintroduce the spark into their games! While it may feel
like writer's block, a GM has a number of options that are
not always open to authors.

This first key to burn-out is diagnosis. If you progress too
far along the burn-out path, there's a risk of passing the
point of no-return. Some GMs who sail through this grim gate
are not seen for months, while others never return! So,
let's have a look at the symptoms to help catch the disease
before it becomes terminal.

You Think You've Already Used Your Best Ideas

Most GMs start a campaign with a good idea. eg: "I want to
run a Viking-type campaign!" They are excited and this is
contagious. Soon the players are excited and the group runs
the campaign quite successfully for a while, often throwing
a lot of energy into the first sessions. As a result,
everybody has lots of fun.

The original spark of that campaign idea probably gave birth
to several plot ideas or elements. Using the Viking example,
the GM may have thought, "Hmm, Vikings are so cool. I can
have a couple scenes of travel across rough seas, some
raiding pirates, and maybe incorporate some elements of
Norse mythology!" Fantastic, but it doesn't take very many
sessions for these ideas to be introduced and used. Then
what?

Eventually, the adventure ideas - the bread and butter of
keeping a campaign fun - are all used up. Sure, you had some
good ideas at the beginning, but you're not getting any new,
inspiring ones.

As a result of your growing lethargy, encounters and NPCs
start to become boring and repetitive. NPCs become cardboard
cut-outs, with little thought being put into any motivations
or quirks they may have. Even at the best of times, players
often don't easily remember NPCs without something special
to help them recall later on. They may remember Rayel the
wizard, who walks with a limp and who speaks with a German
accent, but the last few NPCs have just been "human, middle-
aged" men or women.

Encounters also become repetitive. Rooms begin to have very
brief and vague descriptions. "Okay, you go into the temple.
There is an altar and a human priest." What about the golden
columns and the smell of incense? The temple has become
boring and minimal. Encounters also begin to have a sense of
deja vu. There is no spark to capture the players' attention
and keep them excited.

At the beginning of a campaign, energy levels are high and
it's fun to create NPCs and challenges for your players. But
the infectious excitement that campaigns start with begins
to fade. GMing starts to feel like a chore, and you leave
things to the last minute or hope to get by with "winging
it".

"Oh darn, it's Tuesday already. I've got less than twenty-
four hours to think of something for tomorrow's game!"

You catch yourself scanning through the Big Book o' Monsters
in the middle of a session, looking for something to throw
at the players to keep them busy for half an hour while you
think of a new adventure hook.

Alternatively, you suddenly have better things to do than
prepare player handouts. At the start of the campaign you
had a great time drawing maps and making political
hierarchies for the kingdom of Rillioch, but now you're
content to get by with less.

When everyone has fun at the beginning of a campaign they
look forward to more of it. Often players want to top
previously enjoyable sessions with even more enjoyable
sessions, and then even more enjoyable ones.

"Remember when we snuck into Lady Theril's chambers? Yeah!
That was fun!" or "Remember those catacombs under the
Witch's Tower. Whew, glad we don't have to go back there! I
wonder if this new crystal cave system we are about to enter
will be as creepy?"

Not only have your "best ideas" already been used, but you
feel your players are expecting you to keep delivering
creative challenges! You may have set a high, yet
unmaintainable, standard for yourself that was based on your
earlier high energy levels. Now you're finding it hard to be
as excited as you were, and you're afraid the players will
be disappointed.

Many people would rather be a player than a GM. After a few
months of GMing, they start to think that, actually, they'd
prefer to be on the other side of the GM screen. This is
often particularly true of GMs who spend a lot of time
creating details for their homebrew campaigns - which they
never get to play.

You may experience a growing frustration with your players
who min/max their characters rather than concern themselves
with what you consider to be the greater issues in the game.
You may find yourself irritated with your players when they
argue with you over the rules, or question your decisions.
You may be annoyed with the players' fooling around instead
of concentrating on your well-prepared game.

One look at the different online forums for helping GMs will
show that this is a recurring and very common symptom. Often
it's a symptom that seems to get worse as the campaign
progresses, and GMs get quite frustrated with it.

Sometimes this is a personal problem between players and GM,
and sometimes it's just you taking things personally due to
GM burn-out. Often, GMs become inclined to throw in the
towel and let somebody else take the job of GMing.

The players start talking about trying out new characters
and don't seem interested in playing their current ones.
This isn't their fault necessarily as it's often a sign that
you're not involving their characters, or you're not weaving
the characters deeply enough into your plot lines. Every
player wants their character to have a cool factor, and
balancing these demands is often hard work, especially with
less experienced players.

Are you feeling irritated by the system you're playing? Do
you find yourself saying things like, "Damn, if we were
playing X I could do this". Watch out, this is just yourself
looking for another excuse to drop this campaign and start a
new one under another system.

The biggest, most serious symptom is that you no longer
enjoy GMing. Do you look forward to game night? Do you look
at your watch mid-game and wish sessions would end sooner?
Do you suggest playing board games or video games instead of
roleplaying? Do you purposefully delay starting sessions,
take longer than necessary to handle in-game meals, call
long breaks, and end early? Do you frequently cancel or
post-pone sessions?

These are the major symptoms of GM burn-out. You might have
one or two of these symptoms and not be burned out at all--
so avoid becoming a hypochondriac! However, if you exhibit
more than a few, especially #9, then give yourself an honest
evaluation and be open to the idea that you're suffering
from a little burn-out.

The toughest part of diagnosis is denial, possibly stemming
from a fear you might lose interest and never want to play
again if you stop. The good news is that there are remedies!
Stay tuned for Part 2 coming next week where I'll provide
several options and ideas for curing GM burn-out.

Dragon Scale Counters Lets You Fight Anywhere!

The new combat mats from Dragon Scale Counters are portable
and affordable. At 8" x 10", they fit snugly in the pocket
of your gaming folder. At $2 each, everyone can afford to
have at least one. Because their laminated you can mark on
them over and over (with a wet-erase marker of course!)

After a game I always spend about 10 minutes writing down 4-
5 things that went well and 4-5 things that didn't go so
well.

I keep all of these in my GM folder and go through them
regularly. This allows me to keep track of what is going on
in my games. If something comes off poorly I'll try it
again, and if it doesn't ever seem to work, I scrap it or
change it around.

I don't limit the comments to game related incidents either.
For instance, we have recently been having problems with
time: we always run out of it! The games weren't getting any
longer or more complicated, so what was the problem? I
checked through my notes and immediately noted that food (we
always eat on game night) was taking up more and more time.
So we changed the format to eat first, with an informal time
limit, and the problem was solved.

Here are examples on notes I've taken on three recent game
sessions:

Return to Glindor Session 12

Do not enter into long, protracted arguments (good
natured though they may be). They take up too much time.
Just make a decision and live with it

New printed character reference sheets worked very well,
especially the spell details and descriptions from the
Players Handbook.

Need to lighten up and relax more during the game.
Although I was annoyed at the events unfolding, the players
all enjoyed the game.

Game organisation was ok but need to spend a little
longer in setting up so that all relevant details are at
hand and not in briefcase, bookshelves, etc.

Floor plan printouts worked well but stick them on card
to make them more rigid, similar to older GW floor plans

Food wasn't ordered till late and didn't arrive for a
while so long gap in play.

E-mailed campaign notes from previous game were a
success. Players all had read them and this eliminated the
usual what happened/I donít remember that session.

Need to look at NPC preparation in more detail, e.g. if
better thought out then Sulimanís bodyguards would have been
better prepared to deal with an attack on their employer.

Return to Glindor Session 13

Need to keep new character reference sheets updated
between sessions.

Use of weather effects and wilderness encounters and
events worked well on journey to Tinfell's Tower. PCs caught
out in the storm unprepared and had to seek shelter, which
led to an interesting and unplanned side trek.

Food still a problem. Need to change the format of the
evening. Order takeout as soon as all arrive. Use the
waiting time to get the inevitable non-game conversations
out of the way and start gaming straight after eating.

Card mounted floor plans worked better. Make sure when
printing the scaling is the same as existing GW card floor
plans. Now how do I protect them from Curry?

Aerial combat with Ravinkin worked well and was very
entertaining. The extra time spent checking this was well
worth it.

The puzzles were also a big hit though perhaps a little
too time-consuming.

Kids woke towards the end. BIG Problem--lost an hour
while trying to get them back to sleep.

Finally completed the game. It has taken four sessions
for something I thought would take 2 sessions max. All said
game was good but time factor a big problem. Difficult to
sustain atmosphere and pace over 12 weeks.

Look at packaging sessions into mini games i.e. break long
games into episodes each with defined goals that all
contribute towards the end product. This way interest/energy
is maintained, as there is a deliverable each session.

E-mailed campaign notes still continue to be a success.
The rumourmill notes I added led to a thought provoking
conversation about possible investments in property and a
thoroughly enjoyable encounter with Gilbraith. Continue with

NPC log was a success. By giving them access to a listing
of all NPCs they have met/heard about stopped them relying
on my memory and made them think for themselves.

Food ordered early and arrived early. Off-topic
conversation and eating completed within an hour of arrival.
A new record!

Introduction of d20 principles went generally ok

Combat much easier to control and smoother with new
rules. Richard convinced that he has been done in by
calculation of AC. All others still laughing!

Use of mini events/encounters to show how skill system
etc. works went well.

I need to familiarise myself better with new rules. Use
summary sheets downloaded off net.

After being a role-player for many years I took a break and
lived in Asia for a year and had a truly eye opening
experience about how different each culture on our planet
is. I have thought about how this concept could be related
to D&D and have come up with some successful ideas.

One basic premise of multiple races in one party is that
they all speak a 'common' language. In the real world, there
is no such thing as a truly common language among second
language speakers, even first language depending on the area
they come from and whatever else.

So, have each character come up with 5 words that are used
when they speak this language by their race. They should
try to use these words whenever appropriate.

The Indians call this adding your own Marsala or spice to
the language. This will add amazing depth to your games by
giving each race a little distinctiveness.

An example: A character race from a hot climate when
confused says "Bamboo!" meaning my thoughts have been
blocked by bamboo. A few more examples:

Dragon's Blood!

This has the Troll stink.

Vecna! (Or who ever their god is, or opposing god as a
mild swear word.)

It's also helpful to have each character write down a few
things about their race. Death and marriage practices,
holidays, etc. If there are two characters of the same race
they should work together on it. One very interesting thing
is stereotypes from race to race. What do the dwarves think
of the elves? What do Humans think of Halflings? Have them
make a few racial jokes by just changing the names around
from already known jokes. You probably want to avoid any
character race taking a strong stance against another race
though, because this could change the party dynamics in
negative ways.

This will hopefully add diversity and tension and help the
players build stronger characters.

Do not force a pre-rolled character upon a player, they
will not like it, especially human Clerics of Pelor.

Do not volunteer additional hints in whodunnit sessions,
just give them the evidence. If the pace dies because the
party wants to talk about their conclusions while walking
about a lord's castle, get a guard to "overhear" them and
haul them into a small cell (especially Human Clerics of
Pelor, have I mentioned how much I hate them?).

Encourage players to design their characters before
giving them the rulebooks, especially in D&D, and then work
from their character concept.

Create magic items with benefits *and* drawbacks.

Thief Player: Cool! Magic plate with no dex penalty!

GM: Yes, that armour gives you a magical +4 to armour
resistance and does not have a check penalty, but glows when
enemies are close - think carefully when you want to wear
it.

Alignment is a game tool rather than a restriction. i.e.
allow Chaotic Evil Paladins, however their code of conduct
should reflect their nature and their abilities should be
dictated by their alignment.

Do not be afraid to bend, or indeed break, the D&D mould
to your own. The PCs could bump into a renegade Drow group
who pray to Pelor (well someone's got to) and wish to
overthrow the Demon Queens' Theocracy. As such they may have
their Sunlight penalties reduced or even Negated by their
god.

I've just started using this trick. It's rather strange, but
it's a good way to generate names for a contemporary
campaign.

Like many of us on the 'net, my e-mail Inbox gets filled
with spam. Most of it I delete as soon as I see it. However,
there is one thread of spam, which I've so far been unable
to block, that I pause a moment to look at. I don't actually
open it and read it - goodness no! - but I do take a look at
the Sender line. This particular spammer uses a different
name with each message, and they're pretty good names. I
wish I had this jerk's name generator.

So, every day now, I write down the false names (ignoring
the pornographic ones, of course), and THEN I delete the
spam. Later, I'll print out the list and use it when I need
a name off the cuff.